After writing yesterdays posting I began thinking a bit more about how things used to be. I remembered how the garage kept a book of debts. It was really just one of those composition notebooks like we used in school. You know the kind, the black cardboard cover with white specks. In that book I wrote down when Mr. Miller or Mr. Snith charged two dollars worth of gas or a can of oil. They would come back on payday and settle up. It was all very informal. Put it on the book, yes sir. No signing, no initialing, no checking to see what I wrote down. It was just put in the book.
After that we had credit cards. I wrote an entire blog about that. It was a big deal at the time, not many folks had a credit card. Those that did however were quick to whip that baby out. That's right, I have a credit card because I can afford that, I don't need credit, I have money. Well, I think that has changed a great deal. We finance our future these days. But when I had to deal with those credit cards it was a process. First I had to fill it out with the make and model of the car, then the license plate number, the amount of gas, and the cost. Then I had to get he customers signature, give them there copy, throw out the carbon paper and put that receipt in the register. It was a bit of hassle, more so on a rainy day. And today, today we just swipe at the pump, no need for personal interaction. At most stations I can swipe that card 24/7, no problem. Convenient? It certainly is. But is that thought that inspired this blog. Are we trading convenience for community?
I had many a conversation with people during that whole process. Oh it wasn't much usually, how's the weather, are the fish biting, did you hear about so and so. Still it was an interaction and familiarity was established. There were time when I encountered those customers in other places and we acknowledged each other. Maybe it was nothing more than a nod or a hello, but we knew each other. I worked at the grocery store. Came into contact with lots of folks. I knew their names and they knew mine. Yes I'd say you ran into just about everyone. Well, at least the ones that shopped at the IGA, we did have the A&P and some folks shopped there, although I couldn't understand why, too expensive for me. Why they had union workers in there! You know that is going to cost! But the A&P was uptown, so you had those uptown folks. Fancy store for fancy people. There was Fedi's market too, but that was an old family run grocery store, quite small, quite pricey and a bit of a niche, even before niche wasn't a thing. I met people while stocking the shelves, I met people while gathering the carts up and I met people taking their groceries to the car. Today some just go to the store, do self checkout, and never interact with a person at all. Does your grocery store have a butcher? Those guys are getting hard to find these days unless you go to a rather high end store. Do you know your postman, or is it post person these days? I do, she's a very nice lady named Stacy. When I was a kid we had the milkman and the Dugan man, knew them both. Yes, we definitely had far more personal interaction than we do today. Given the amount of online purchasing these days I expect more people know their UPS driver than the cashier at the grocery store.
But everything is more convenient isn't it? Need gas? Pump it yourself and pay at the pump. Very convenient. Of course should the windshield need washing, you need air in the tires or the oil checked, do it yourself! Well in all fairness the new cars will tell you all that and even schedule an appt at your dealership to get that stuff straightened out. Now, that's convenience. I don't own one but I've heard that your car will phone you to inform you of this stuff. If you have a wreck will Jake, from State Farm call you? Maybe your insurance company will just automatically contact their insurance company so you don't have to interact with the bad person that just ran into you! Take care of that electronically. We don't need to know how to read a roadmap anymore, or street signs for that matter. Just engage the GPS, that woman in there will tell when to turn. Just listen up, of course you do have to know directions, head northeast and take the first road. Uh, which why is northeat? That's not very convenient. But on the other hand that car will start itself and park itself too. All you need is smart park! That way I can squeeze my car between others. I don't care if they can get in their car or not! This is about me! If they don't have smart park, that's their fault. It's all about convenience. You really expect me to walk an extra fifty feet when I can slip my car into that spot?
I don't know it just seems to me all this convenience is keeping us apart. We are not learning how to interact with one another. To put it simply, we are used to being catered too. When we aren't, many people don't know how to react to that. It is met with shock and indignation. What, you mean I have to do this or that, how inconvenient! I have to wait in the checkout line? No, I should go to the head of the line, I'm in a hurry. Never mind, I'll do it myself! And as a result we are winding up with ourselves. We are alone in a sea of people. And then we search for an identity. We search for that sense of community. But the community is a large area, in a general geographic location. For instance, I live on the Eastern Shore. More commonly called the shore it describes a general area on the eastern shore of Maryland and Delaware and part of Virginia. Think of it as being like the Hamptons. The old families, the locals don't call it the shore, they call it home. Those that has settled here for that country living call it the shore. They live on the shore, but they don't work on the shore. As a result communities are now divided between the locals and the transplants. Well, that's progress I suppose.
After that we had credit cards. I wrote an entire blog about that. It was a big deal at the time, not many folks had a credit card. Those that did however were quick to whip that baby out. That's right, I have a credit card because I can afford that, I don't need credit, I have money. Well, I think that has changed a great deal. We finance our future these days. But when I had to deal with those credit cards it was a process. First I had to fill it out with the make and model of the car, then the license plate number, the amount of gas, and the cost. Then I had to get he customers signature, give them there copy, throw out the carbon paper and put that receipt in the register. It was a bit of hassle, more so on a rainy day. And today, today we just swipe at the pump, no need for personal interaction. At most stations I can swipe that card 24/7, no problem. Convenient? It certainly is. But is that thought that inspired this blog. Are we trading convenience for community?
I had many a conversation with people during that whole process. Oh it wasn't much usually, how's the weather, are the fish biting, did you hear about so and so. Still it was an interaction and familiarity was established. There were time when I encountered those customers in other places and we acknowledged each other. Maybe it was nothing more than a nod or a hello, but we knew each other. I worked at the grocery store. Came into contact with lots of folks. I knew their names and they knew mine. Yes I'd say you ran into just about everyone. Well, at least the ones that shopped at the IGA, we did have the A&P and some folks shopped there, although I couldn't understand why, too expensive for me. Why they had union workers in there! You know that is going to cost! But the A&P was uptown, so you had those uptown folks. Fancy store for fancy people. There was Fedi's market too, but that was an old family run grocery store, quite small, quite pricey and a bit of a niche, even before niche wasn't a thing. I met people while stocking the shelves, I met people while gathering the carts up and I met people taking their groceries to the car. Today some just go to the store, do self checkout, and never interact with a person at all. Does your grocery store have a butcher? Those guys are getting hard to find these days unless you go to a rather high end store. Do you know your postman, or is it post person these days? I do, she's a very nice lady named Stacy. When I was a kid we had the milkman and the Dugan man, knew them both. Yes, we definitely had far more personal interaction than we do today. Given the amount of online purchasing these days I expect more people know their UPS driver than the cashier at the grocery store.
But everything is more convenient isn't it? Need gas? Pump it yourself and pay at the pump. Very convenient. Of course should the windshield need washing, you need air in the tires or the oil checked, do it yourself! Well in all fairness the new cars will tell you all that and even schedule an appt at your dealership to get that stuff straightened out. Now, that's convenience. I don't own one but I've heard that your car will phone you to inform you of this stuff. If you have a wreck will Jake, from State Farm call you? Maybe your insurance company will just automatically contact their insurance company so you don't have to interact with the bad person that just ran into you! Take care of that electronically. We don't need to know how to read a roadmap anymore, or street signs for that matter. Just engage the GPS, that woman in there will tell when to turn. Just listen up, of course you do have to know directions, head northeast and take the first road. Uh, which why is northeat? That's not very convenient. But on the other hand that car will start itself and park itself too. All you need is smart park! That way I can squeeze my car between others. I don't care if they can get in their car or not! This is about me! If they don't have smart park, that's their fault. It's all about convenience. You really expect me to walk an extra fifty feet when I can slip my car into that spot?
I don't know it just seems to me all this convenience is keeping us apart. We are not learning how to interact with one another. To put it simply, we are used to being catered too. When we aren't, many people don't know how to react to that. It is met with shock and indignation. What, you mean I have to do this or that, how inconvenient! I have to wait in the checkout line? No, I should go to the head of the line, I'm in a hurry. Never mind, I'll do it myself! And as a result we are winding up with ourselves. We are alone in a sea of people. And then we search for an identity. We search for that sense of community. But the community is a large area, in a general geographic location. For instance, I live on the Eastern Shore. More commonly called the shore it describes a general area on the eastern shore of Maryland and Delaware and part of Virginia. Think of it as being like the Hamptons. The old families, the locals don't call it the shore, they call it home. Those that has settled here for that country living call it the shore. They live on the shore, but they don't work on the shore. As a result communities are now divided between the locals and the transplants. Well, that's progress I suppose.
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